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Travel Namibia |
Introduction - The cheetah is the fastest land mammal and can reach speeds of up to 105 km.h. As the cheetah can only keep up this speed for short distances (a few hundred meters) they stalk their prey to around 50 meters before chasing them. Male cheetah form coalitions while females remain solitary. Namibia is home to a large portion of the world's remaining cheetah population and anyone visitng the country should take the time to visit either the Okonjima Lodge or Okonjima Bush Camp to learn about the work been done by the Africat Foundation to protect theses animals
Diet - The Cheetah’s main prey is medium to small antelope such as Steenbok and Duiker and Springbok, but there have been accounts of males grouping together to hunt larger prey such as Wildebeest. They also prey on Baboons, ground-living Birds, Bustards and hares.
Colouring - This Cat is characterised by a strongly spotted coat and by a long tail which is half as long as the length of its head and body. The tail has a unique pattern of striped markings
Breeding - Cheetahs do not have a fixed seasonal breeding cycle and in this too, they are similar to leopards. Cheetah cubs are born after a gestation period of about three months. Usually two cubs are born in the litter, but occasionally there are up to six. Cubs stay with their mother for about two years, but sadly, most of them never live to adulthood because they are preyed upon by Lions, Leopards, Hyenas, Foxes and Eagles, to name but a few.
Being a comparatively frail Cat, the mother often has to give up her young or risk being killed herself. However in areas where there is good cover or few predators, the possibility of a Cheetah’s survival is quite good.
Size - It measures two metres from the snout to the tip of the tail, has a mass of 40 – 60 Kg's, and stands about 800mm high